The spray of the waterfall didn’t splash my face, but the rumble nearly deafened me as we passed under the surging waters. A glistening gate that wasn’t actually wet pushed into the smooth rock of the cliff face. The metal door stood open, and as we neared, the water rushing overhead fell silent. A strange hush fell over the hollow.
A tall being emerged from the doorway with pointed features and snow-white hair cropped short. Green wool draped from a skinny frame and brushed its blunt toes, eight in all.
“Trick or treat,” I said.
“What are you?” it asked in a silky voice I did not expect from a demon.
“Oh, a little of this and a little of that. How about you?”
“We seek passage through your territory,” the demon shackled to me said in a flat tone. I had no doubt it was trying to hide its disdain for the lust demons.
“And why should we grant it to you?” the gatekeeper asked.
“Look at this guy.” I indicated Darius. “How many guys have you seen that are as hot as this guy? You’ve got lust brewing in there, right? Well, here you go. He can rev up a monk. You’re welcome.”
The creature took a moment to assess Darius before its eyes flicked over his shoulder. They narrowed. The creature stepped to the side to look beyond us.
I followed its gaze and felt my stomach seize. Through the small gap that looked out into the space between the cliffs, I could see something glimmering fly into the space between all the cliffs.
Oh yeah, they’d send dragons. Already had, by the looks of it.
Adrenaline pumped through me as I turned back to the gatekeeper. “Let us in. You won’t get another chance to do so.”
My shackled demon scurried behind me.
The gatekeeper’s eyes flicked to the cowering demon, then back to me. A glimmer sparked in its eyes and a strange sound rumbled deep in its throat, almost like a cat’s purr. “You have great passion.”
“That’s not where I was going with that threat…”
The demon’s gaze moved beyond us again and a stray thought—Who do they seek?—drifted from its mind. When its eyes came back to me, I could easily guess the next thought. This creature?
“We are celebrating the change in the stars and do not usually let outsiders through. But you captivate me.” Its gaze roamed over Darius. “Your essence intrigues me.” Back to me. “I feel the pulse in you. The aching desire. It excites me.”
“Ew.”
“You may come.” With that, it turned and walked farther into the sect.
“The change in the stars?” I asked Darius quietly as I followed.
“They have a ceremony every time they change the color and placement of the twinkling lights,” the demon said, not lowering its voice. “They have so little importance that they create celebrations over made-up situations.”
“Our time is not spent fighting and spying on our neighbors,” the gatekeeper said dismissively as it led us through a tunnel. The sides branched out into little catacombs where figures were either lounging or engaging in lewd acts. Regardless of how icky my logical mind found the situation, a tawdry feeling filled the air more the farther in we got.
I wiped my forehead, trying to dislodge the memories of bonding with Darius. Of his slick body pressed firmly against mine. The feel of him inside me. Again and again. The grind of our movements.
“How much longer?” I asked weakly.
The gatekeeper turned with a sly grin, now walking backward in front of me. “You feel it, do you not?”
Sounds filled the air as the fervor rose. We turned a corner into a plush, spacious setting where mostly human forms writhed. Coupled or in an orgy, sticking with one or moving around—it didn’t seem to matter. The area was alive with activity.
“Good grief.” I had no choice but to slow, moving in step with the gatekeeper.
It ran its hand through the air, indicating the goings-on. “Care to participate? You can stay in your current form to do so. As you see.”
I felt Darius’s hand low on my hip. A backward glance revealed he was also feeling the effect, and if he scooted up, the effect would poke me in the back.
“We’re good. Let’s move on.” I meant to slap off Darius’s hand, but the weight of it felt good. Tingles spread across my skin and my lady bits tightened up, craving him.
Not the time, mon ange, Darius thought, the words dripping with sensuality. Let us get out of the Dark Kingdom and I will devote as much time to you as you’d like.
I grimaced and, with effort, removed my hands from his sensitive areas, not sure when I’d turned and plastered myself to him.
The gatekeeper wore a huge smile. “It feels good to give in. Almost as good as it does to fight the urge. Stay a while. You will find what you seek.”
“A wild ride, you mean?” I gestured at it to keep moving. “I live in New Orleans. There’s a wild ride around every corner if you just open your eyes.”
Speaking of eyes, they followed us, many painted with lust and desire. The gazes that surveyed my body felt like a physical touch. Darius’s hand remained firmly on my hip, low and heavy. If I turned just a little, it would…
Almost there, love. A little longer.
I stopped stroking and uncurled my fingers from around his manhood. Like last time, I didn’t remember relenting to desire. “My bad.”
“It is easy to get caught up—”
“I got it,” I said to the gatekeeper. “You don’t have to keep pointing out the obvious.”
A drumbeat sounded somewhere above us, and when I looked up, I saw faces peering down from the ledges—some laughing, some desirous. Many of the demons had taken the shapes of magical species that couldn’t get into the underworld at all, let alone this far in. Most of the shapes were wrong in some way, like a wolf head on a lion’s body, or a human head and limbs with an ape’s body—actually, come to think of it, maybe that last guy was making fun of humans…
I shook my head and clasped my hands in front of me so I didn’t inadvertently grab Darius again. “How is it you are keeping the hand on my hip from wandering?” I asked him.
I deal in passion as a trade. I inspire lust as a normal course of my existence. These demons are similar to vampires in that way. The feel in this sect is welcoming.
Welcoming. That was one word for it.
I re-clasped my hands. They’d tried to go wandering again. At least they were only headed for Darius. That was a plus.
The catacombs twisted and turned, a new offshoot around every corner. Demons wandered or idled, always interested in the newcomers unless already entertained. My demon guide didn’t seem to notice the palpable feeling of sex in the air, and Darius didn’t bend, even a little. It was just me, constantly having my hands removed from Darius’s person—without realizing how they’d gotten there in the first place—until I was walking with both wrists clasped in one of his large hands.
The gatekeeper thought that was hilarious.
“It is a pity you couldn’t stay.” The gatekeeper stopped at a gated archway leading out into the darkness speckled with twinkling red lights. No waterfall tumbled over this gateway. “But it seems you must run.”